Just past Donnybrook: and I spend the whole afternoon in the shade of some trees in the park

It’s remarkably isolated at Nglang Boodja. Not so many visitors each month, maybe 4 or 5 parties pass through.

The Huntsmen spiders have it to themselves save these few sporadic intruders.

Dunno if it was just me but those sizeable hairy arachnids made their presence felt. Hopping out of biking shorts and hiding under the toilet paper, just.

One party mentioned in the hut comments book they preferred their own spider free realm inside their tents.

I take a different approach to the dangers on the road, preferring to ignore preconceptions and dealing with the occasional reality, like said large, hairy, spider crawling up your leg.

Then, naturally, I panic.

But any dread is often worse than the experience.

OK, the spiders are renown for leaping great distances and it’s possible to receive a bee sting-like bite but usually the scuttling is them heading away for some dark sanctuary, like underwear or biking gloves.

Moral of this story: shake everything before cladding yourself.

After a short grunt up the hill it’s more sublime National Park single track until you burst out into the most populated segment of the Munda Biddi. First dun coloured paddocks on a frightening tilt, with emus in motion heading to the horizon, then, eventually, a sealed road, traffic and the odd orchard.